Question

Discuss coordinated joint attention as a frame for language development in infants

Answer 1

Joint attention parents and childrens coordinated attention to each other and to a third object or event – is claimed by many researchers to play a critical role in early word learning. Indeed, several studies have shown positive correlations between the amount of joint attention in which parent–child dyads engage and the size of children’s early vocabularies. An infant's social environment relates to his or her later language development.Children's first words are closely linked to their early language experience. For children with typically developing language skills, there is a close match between maternal speech and their environment: up to 78% of maternal speech is matched to the object the child is focusing on. In children with delayed language development, only 50% of maternal speech is matched to the object the infant is focusing on.Infants are more likely to engage in joint attention when the parent talks about an object that the child is attending to as opposed to an object outside of the infant's attention.This increased level of joint attention aids in encouraging normal language development, including word comprehension and production.When joint attention is present, it plays an important role in word learning, a crucial aspect of language development in infants.